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A SKETCH OF 



FRAUNCES TAVERN 

AND THOSE CONNECTED WITH 
ITS HISTORY 




SONS OF THE REVOLUTION 



BROAD AND PEARL STREETS 
NEW YORK CITY 



A SKETCH OF 

FRAUNCES TAVERN 

and those connected with its history 

BY 

HENRY RUSSELL DROWNE 

if 

Secretary of the Sons of the Revolution 
in the State of New York 



"For the life- thread of its site runs brightly back almost to the be- 
ginnings of the city, and the experience of its walls has struck almost 
every tone in the wide gamut of the city's social, commercial, civic and 
political career." Mrs. M. F. PikrcE. 

"The ancient and famous inn where the Commander-in-Chief tenderly 
parted with his officers." George Wiluam Curtis. 



FRAUNCES TAVERN 

NEW YORK 

1919 



F. 



, Copyright 1919 by 
Henry Russei^l Drowne 



■3 1919 
©€I.A514270 




FRAUNCES TAVERN 
Broad & Pearl Streets New York City 



Our story starts at a very early period in the history of this great city, 
for historians tell us that shortly after Hudson returned to Holland with 
the "Half Moon," five trading vessels were sent over here, among them the 
"Tiger," commanded by Captain Block. The "Tiger" caught fire and 
was completely destroyed in 1613, and a new ship was finished and 
launched the next spring (1614) called the "Onrest" (Restless), which 
was built on the site of what is now Fraunces Tavern. This was the first 
ship built here, and the third on the American Continent. 

The plot of ground upon which this building stands was diagonally 

I 



had been enclosed for the better loading and unloading of vessels and near 
by was the Royal Exchange, and later the Exchange Coffee House. 

It is not known when Stephen de Lancey ceased to use the house as a 
residence, but it is said that he built a new house on Broadway about 
1730* and possibly soon after that it was used for public purposes, for in 
1737 Henry Holt, a dancing master, announced that a ball would be given 
in Mr. de Lancey's house. 

Pantomine entertainments were given in Holt's Long Room in 1739, 
called "The Adventures of Harlequin and Scaramouch or the Spaniard 
Trick'd," to which was added "An Optick representing several of the 
most noted cities and remarkable places in Europe, America, etc.," for 
which tickets were sold at five shillings each. 

The property was inherited by James de Lancey, Chief Justice, Lieu- 
tenant Governor and Acting Governor of New York, who died in 1760, 
and his brother, Oliver de Lancey, who, being a royalist, removed to 
England at the close of the Revolution and died there in exile. 

Susannah, the daughter of Stephen de Lancey, was married to Sir 
Peter Warren, a Knight of the Bath, Vice Admiral of the Fleet and later 
Member of Parliament, whose epitaph is to be found in Westminster Abbey, 
London. While a captain in charge of a squadron at the Leeward Islands, 
he took some twenty-four prizes in less than four months. The captured 
ships were sent to New York and Messieurs Stephen de Lancey & Co. 
became his agents for the sale of his French and Spanish loot. They are 
thought to have been married in the de Lancey Mansion, and later set- 
tled in Greenwich Village, where they owned a tract of three hundred 
acres along the Hudson, which was laid out as an English park and where 
they made their home until he was elected to Parliament some years 
later. Warren, Abington, Fitzroy, and Skinner Streets all derived their 
names from this branch of the family. 

Following the occupancy by Henry Holt, the property w^as leased to 
Colonel Joseph Robinson, who was born in 1683 and came to New 
York shortly after 1700. He married, before 17 10, Mary, daughter of 
Leonard Huggens De Kleyn (her sister Elizabeth married Anthony 

* This was just north of Trinity Church, became the "Province Arms" in 1754 
and was the Cape's Tavern referred to at the close of the Revolution at which the 
French Ambassador was entertained. 



I/ispenard). An obituary notice of Colonel Robinson, who died March 
i6, 1759, appeared in"TheNew York Mercury," which mentioned him as a 
gentleman of unblemished reputation, a merchant, and a warden of 
Trinity Church, from 1724 to 1756. 

The house was offered for sale, by advertisement in "The New York 
Mercury," on January 22, 1759, at public vendue at the Merchants Coffee 
House and was quoted as "the corner being near the Long Bridge,* wherein 
Colonel Robinson now lives," and while no transfer is recorded, it is 
thought to have been purchased by de Lancey, Robinson & Company, the 
firm consisting of Oliver de Lancey, Beverley Robinson and James 
Parker, for it was soon after occupied by them as a store and warehouse ; 
their advertisement appears in "The Mercury" of May 28, 1759, as hav- 
ing moved into Colonel Robinson's late dwelling, being the corner house 
next to the Royal Exchange,** where they sold all sorts of European and 
East India goods, army and ship stores, etc., and was doubtless used by 
them until their partnership expired in December, 1762. Col. Beverley 
Robinson was born in Virginia in 1723, served under Wolfe at Quebec, 
was prominent in New York as a loyalist during the Revolution, and died 
in Thornbury, England, in 1792. He married Susannah Phillipse, of 
Yonkers, daughter of Frederick Phillipse, sister of Mary Phillipse, whom 
Washington admired. Mary was married in 1758 to Captain Roger 
Morris, who, being a royalist, the house he built for her was confiscated 
and occupied by Washington as his headquarters in September, 1776. 
This is the Roger Morris House, now called "Washington's Headquarters," 
■more commonly known as the Jumel Mansion. It may be interesting to 
mention that the celebrated Madam Jumel was originally Betts Bowen, 
of Providence, R. I., who, as a young girl, was bound out from the poor- 
house there, as was customary in those days, to the writer's great-great- 
grandfather, Oliver Carpenter, from whose home she later ran away and 
started on her career. 

* The bridge formerly crossed the canal in Broad Street from near the present 
location of Stone and Bridge Streets. 

** This building, in its day one of the most imposing in the city, was also known 
as the Merchant Exchange. It was a brick structure on arches erected in 1752 on the 
site of the old Market House, and stood in the middle of Broad Street, near Water. 
In the large room on second floor the first plays that New York ever saw were produced ; 
the Chamber of Commerce used it from 1770 to 1795, when the Tammany Society 
occupied it as a Museum until it was finally torn down in 1799, 



In 1762 the property was sold by de Lancey, Robinson & Company for 
for two thousand pounds (deed dated January 15, 1762) to Samuel Fraunces 
a man of French extraction from the West Indies. Fraunces, who had 
been an innkeeper in New York since 1755, took possession early in 1763, 
when he opened the place, calling it the "Queen's Head Tavern." His 
advertisement first appears in "The New York Gazette" of April 4. 1763. 
It was named after Queen Charlotte, the young wife of George III of 
England, who, as a girl of seventeen, was promoted to the honor of being 
Queen of Kngland in consequence of an essay which she had written ad- 
dressed as a letter to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, on "The Hor- 
rors of War." This touched the heart of George III and she became his 
wife the year before Fraunces took possession. 

The property has ever since been a Tavern, covering a period of one 
hundred and fifty-six years, and being a large house, was very well suited 
for the purpose of giving public entertainments as its "Long Room" could 
hardly be surpassed. It was patronized by the best people in New York 
and proverbial for its good Madeira. 

The year 1765 finds it leased by Fraunces to John Jones, and in 1766 
to Bolton and Sigell, whose advertisement can be found in Holt's "New 
York Journal" of January 15, 1767. Fraunces at that time continued his 
business at the "Vauxhall Gardens," which was located on the Trinity 
Church farm at the corner of Greenwich and Warren streets, overlooking 
the Hudson River, comprising twenty-seven and a half lots of ground, and 
was later known as Mount Pleasant. This establishment he ran from 
1765 until 1774, aiid it was there that "for four shillings magnificent wax 
figures were exhibited," etc. 

As early as March, 1764, a call was issued asking the merchants of the 
city, who had been gradually becoming united in protests against gov- 
ernmental action, to meet at the "Queen's Head Tavern," as well as on sub- 
sequent occasions; and on April 5, 1768, when the tavern was kept by 
Bolton & Sigell, the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York 
was founded in the "Long Room," consisting of twenty members with 
John Cruger as President, who were doubtless inspired with the idea of 
a commercial union for the protection and promotion of their business 
interests. The organization continued to meet there until it secured a 
room of its own in February, 1769, at the Royal Exchange. 

6 



Meetings were also held there by the New York Merchants on April 
25, 1768, to consider the Non Importation Agreement, and again on March 
13. 1769, by the subscribers to the agreement, when a committee was 
appointed to inquire into and inspect all European importations. Richard 
Bolton was the sole proprietor after February 5, 1770, his succession to 
the business being announced in Holt's "New York Journal" of February 
8, and during his occupancy the "Long Room" was the favorite place 
for dancing parties, concerts and charitable entertainments. 

Fraunces again took possession of his property in May, 1770, and "The 
New York Society," an organization for the discussion of financial and 
economic subjects, which had met there when he was landlord in 1765, 
again resumed its meetings in the "Long Room." It was also opened for 
"the Polite and Rational Amusement of Philosophical Lectures, etc.," 
for which tickets were sold. On April 23, 1771, the occasion being Saint 
George's Day, an elegant entertainment was given on the premises to 
over one hundred and twenty persons. John Tabor Kempe, his Majesty's 
Attorney General, presided, the guests of honor being the Earl of Dunmore, 
General Gage and the gentlemen of the Council. 

One of the best organizations that then met at the Tavern every Satur- 
day evening was "The Social Club," a full list of the members of which 
has been preserved and is now in the possession of the New York His- 
torical Society, and shows many prominent citizens on the roll. 
They continued to meet until December, 1775, when, its membership con- 
sisting of both loyalists and patriots, it naturally came to an end. 

In 1775 Samuel Fraunces offered the "Queen's Head" for sale, but did 
not succeed, and continued as landlord until the British Army entered 
the city. He was a tavern keeper without a peer and when the time came 
to decide, struck for Liberty and Independence, abandoned his property 
and stuck to the colors, like a true patriot, and went out in 1776, presuma- 
bly with General Putnam's division. He appeared later, enlisted as a 
Private in Colonel Malcolm's First Regiment of New York State Troops 
in Continental service 1 780-1 781. It would seem that he may have been 
in New York some portion of the time during the British occupation, 
for the reason that in consequence of his generous advances and kindness 
to American prisoners and secret services he received a vote of thanks in 

7 



July, 1782, and £200 as a gratuity from Congress. His daughter Phoebe 
was Washington's housekeeper in the Mortier House on Richmond Hill, 
occupied by the Commander-in-Chief as Headquarters, in June, 1776, 
and it was she who revealed the plot to assassinate Generals Washington 
and Putnam, which led to the apprehension of her lover, an Irishman 
named Thomas Hickey, a British deserter, then a member of Washing- 
ton's bodyguard, in consequence of which he was promptly executed on 
June 28, 1776.* 

In this connection it may be of interest to listen to two letters written 
to his home in Providence, R. I., by the writer's great-grandfather. Dr. 
Solomon Drowne, a Surgeon of the Revolution, who was then stationed 
in the General Hospital on Chambers Street in this city. This brings us 
in close touch with the incidents of the day and the sentiments of the time: 

"New York, June 24, 1776. 
Dear Sister Sally: 

I cannot let this opportunity slip without scribbling you a few lines, 
tho' I have but little time to do it in. It is now past ten; Mr. D. Smith 
told me he should set away home tomorrow or next day; and tomorrow 
morning I expect to go to Elizabeth Town, on some business of my own, 
and to serve my friend, Captain Timothy Hughs, who expects to set out 
for Canada in a day or two. He and I are now in possession of Mr. Gano's 
house, who has gone into ye country, to see Mrs. Gano, etc. Not one of 
ye family is in ye city. 

A most infernal plot has lately been discovered here, which, had it been 
put into execution, would have made America tremble, and been as fatal 
a stroke to us, this Country, as gun powder treason would to England, 
had it succeeded. The hellish conspirators were a number of Tories 
(the Mayor of ye City among them) and three of General Washington's 
Life Guards. The plan was to kill Generals Washington and Putnam, and 
as many other Commanding Officers as possible. I should have men- 

* Orderly Book, Friday, June 28, at New York. 

"The unhappy fate of Thomas Hickey executed this day for Mutiny, Sedition 
and Treachery: the General hopes will be a warning to every soldier in the Army to 
avoid those crimes and all others, so disgraceful to the character of the soldier and 
pernicious to his country, whose pay he receives and bread he eats." Thomas Hickey, 
one of Washington's Guard, was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death, the 
plot being traced to Governor Tryon, Mayor David Matthews having been the principal 
agent. 

8 



tioned at first, — to set the city on fire in nine several places. To spike 
up the cannon. Then to give a signal to the Asia and ships expected;— 
and blow up the Magazine. They had a large body of men, which were 
to attack ours amidst their confusion. The whole was discovered (as I 
am informed) by a Sergeant of ye Guards, whom they wanted to take 
into ye plot, and who, having got what he could from them, discovered all 
to the General.— The Drummer of ye Guards was to have stabbed ye 
General. The pretty fellows are in safe custody, and I hope I shall be 
able to give you a better account of them in my next. This morning a 
large Guard went to take two hundred Tories, who are under arms not 
very far from this City. . 

I wish you would excuse me to Mr. J. Dabney for not writing to him. 
I intended to, and am sorry I have not time. I enquired at several shops 
for the buttons he desired me to get him; but could find none. My duty 
to Dad, and Mama, Love to Sister Aplin, Billy, etc. I shall be very glad 
of a letter from each of you; for I have not received one since I have been 
here. Yours, 

SoivOMON." 

The second letter is as follows : 

"N. York 
General Hospital, July 13, 1776. 
Dear Billy: 

I received yours by Mr. Arnold some time since, and about a week after, 
that by Mr. Green, tho' of an earlier date than ye other.— I was glad to 
hear all friends were well, both in town and country. It is now almost 
midnight, and but a little while since I returned to my chamber from 
carrying medicine to one of ye wards I have ye care of, — and applying a 
poultice to a man's foot, over which a gun carriage run yesterday, in th^ 
battle of ye ships, for a further account of which see Sally's letter. So 
you may judge how much time I have to write. I saw Mr. Glover here 
some time ago, who told me you was in Newport when he was there. I 
hope little Amy is well. You requested to know upon what terms I en- 
tered ye Hospital. I have as good a bi^th as I desired. Our pay is twenty 
dollars pr. month and 2 rations a day. We expect it will be raised soon 
in consequence of a petition to Congress for ye purpose. 

9 



I heartily congratulate you, my dear Brother, on being an inhabitant 
of ye Free and Independent States of America. I herewith send you a Gazette, 
which contains ye Declaration; and also an extract of a letter from Phila- 
delphia, which, if you have not had yet, should be glad you would show 
Tommy Russell. The Declaration was read, agreeable to general Orders, 
at ye head of ye Brigade, etc., this week; and loud Huzzas expressed the 
approbation of ye Freeborn Bands. The night following, the famous, 
gilded equestrian Statute of ye British King, in this city, was levelled 
with ye dust; his head taken off, and next morning, in a wheel barrow 
carried to His Excellency's Quarters, I was told. There is a large quan- 
tity of lead about it, which is to be run into bullets to destroy his 
Myrmidons. 

I suppose you have heard of ye execution of one of the General's Guards, 
concerned in ye hellish plot, discovered here some time past. There was 
a vast concourse of people to see ye poor fellow hanged. 

Sally wrote me that you had listed : should be glad if you would explain 
that matter in your next. 

14th. I heard this evening, that Lord Howe had sent a Flag, with a 
letter directed to George Washington, Esq., and that it was returned un- 
opened because he gave him not his proper title; tho' ye Captain that 
brought it said its contents were of the utmost importance, and that Ld. 
Howe was very sorry he had not arrived a few days sooner. (Perhaps 
before Independence was declared; for 'tis said he is invested with un- 
limited power.) This may learn him a little manners, well; — two ships 
& 3 tenders up N. River; — Communication with Canada by water cut 
off: Something important will turn up soon. 

Mr. Arnold has not returned from Philadelphia yet; perhaps I may 
write by him. I am very tired, and it is past midnight. Write often 
to your Friend & Brother, 

S01.OMON. 

Give my love to friend Harry. I wish I had time to write to him. 
Remember me to ye lads." 

It is interesting to know that this is the only account of what was done 
with the head of the Statue of King George III, which was located on the 
present Bowling Green; the remainder was taken to the Wolcott place at 



Litchfield, Connecticut, and there nearly all melted into bullets. Three 
pieces, however, of this statue, as well as the slab on which it stood, 
have been preserved, and can be seen in the museum of the New York His- 
torical Society in this City, and while all the pictures representing the 
scene of its destruction show the head of the British King as wearing a 
crown, it has lately been developed that the Statue of George III was 
modelled after that of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Rome, and that 
he was dressed in a toga, wearing a wreath on his head. 

Fraunces, after serving in the army, had gone back to New York on the 
news of the cessation of hostilities and preliminary treaty of peace, April 
19. 1783, to reclaim his abandoned property. On some two or three oc- 
casions in 1783, he came up from the city to provide for the American 
officers and their British guests, who met to arrange matters relative 
to the withdrawal of British troops in the vicinity of New York. In May, 
1783, when General Washington and Sir Guy Carle ton met near Tappan, 
a Philadelphia newspaper comments on the expense of the entertainment 
as amounting to the modest sum of five hundred pounds.* 

On the 4th of May, 1783, General Washington, Governor Clinton, 
General Scott, Lieutenant Colonels Trumbull, Cobb, Humphreys and 
Varick, after having visited General Knox, then in command at West 
Point, were furnished on their arrival at Tappan, with a repast provided 
by Fraunces. On the 6th of May also, the meeting quoted as taking place 
at Orangetown about 4 p.m. — General Washington, Governor Clinton, 
Egbert Benson, John M. Scott and Jona. Trumbull, Jr., being present 
"when a most sumptuous dinner was served to about thirty who ate and 
drank in the Peace and good fellowship, without drinking any toasts." 
Following this a subsequent conference and dinner was given by the 
English on board the "Perseverance," when a salute of seventeen guns 
was fired on the arrival and departure of the party. "This was the first 
complimentary salute fired by Great Britain in honor of an officer of the 
United States and virtually the first salute to the nation." 

Samuel Fraunces, in 1789, left his Jersey farm, to which he had re- 

* This probably alludes to the depreciated paper money of the period. The 
writer has two bills to Dr. Solomon Drowne, dated June 27, 1780. The amount of one 
is stated as 600 paper doUars or eight silver dollars, and it is receipted as paid in full 
by 300 paper dollars and four hard dollars, and the other reads for 30 pounds or 2 dol- 
lars in silver. 



tired in 1785 when he sold the Tavern and became steward to President 
Washington at what was then the "White House" in New York, known 
as the FrankHn Mansion located at No. 3 Cherry Street, near the east 
side of one of the Brooklyn Bridge piers in the neighborhood of the present 
Franklin Square. He also at this time opened a new tavern at No. 40 
Cortlandt Street which was managed by his wife, where various enter- 
tainments were held until November, 1790, after which he removed to 
business for a brief period to a house in Broad Street, near the Exchange 
which was his last location in New York. 

One day he is said to have placed before the President a fine shad from 
the first catch of the season. The latter inquired the price. "Three 
dollars," replied the steward. "Take it away!" returned Washington 
scandalized; "it shall never be said that the President indulges in luxuries 
so expensive as this." Yet, on the other hand, Steward Fraunces kept the 
table well supplied with the popular beverages of the day, which were con- 
sidered permissible even though an "early" shad was not. Fraunces 
continued as Washington's Steward to Philadelphia, when Congress 
reassembled there on the first Monday in December, 1790, and remained 
so until 1794 or later, as shown by a receipt signed by him which is now 
on exhibition at the Tavern. All this would seem to indicate that Wash- 
ington held him in high esteem, else why would he not, like others tem- 
porarily residing in New York, have brought his head servants from his 
Virginia mansion? The fact that Fraunces was so distinguished might 
seem to corroborate the story of Pheobe Fraunces' loyalty in 1776 and the 
General's gratitude. Fraunces had three daughters and a son, and some 
of his descendants are buried in Trinity Church Yard. 

Several incidents connected the Tavern with the Revolution, for on 
April 22, 1774, the Sons of Liberty and the Vigilance Committee met 
there and the result of the meeting was that an attack was made upon 
the ship "London," commanded by Captain Chambers, which had just 
arrived at the Bast India Company's wharf nearby and the tea chests in 
the cargo broken open and contents thrown overboard, for which "tea 
party" New York has as yet received little credit. 

As the troubles between king and colonies became more and more 
serious and demonstrative, Fraunces Tavern was the headquarters of 



opposition to the crown, and a favorite meeting place of the active patriots 
of those days. 

On May 14, 1774, iii consequence of the news from England that the 
Port of Boston was to be closed on June first, a meeting of merchants 
assembled there to consider the question of uniting with the other colonies 
in a call for a Congress of the Colonies. The attendance proved so great 
that an adjournment was made to the Merchants Coffee House, where a 
Committee of Correspondence consisting of fifty merchants was appointed, 
who on May 23 issued the famous letter in which the idea of a union of 
the Colonies was first expressed, which resulted in the First Continental 
Congress. 

On August 25, 1774, the Massachusetts delegates to the Continental 
Congress were entertained by the New York delegates in the Chamber 
of the Royal Exchange, which was followed by a banquet in the "Long 
Room" at Fraunces Tavern. This is referred to in the Diary of John 
Adams as "the most splendid dinner I ever saw; a profusion of rich dishes, 
etc." 

On May 6, 1775, John Adams and the Massachusetts delegates to the 
Second Continental Congress stopped there over night on their way to 
Philadelphia, when they were received with the greatest enthusiasm and 
attention. 

On August 23, 1775, the building was struck by a shot from the British 
man of war, "Asia," and Philip Freneau made the occasion memorable in 
these lines : 

"Scarce a broadside was ended 'till another began again — ■ 
By Jove! it was nothing but Fire away Flannagan! 
Some thought him saluting his Sally's and Nancy's 
Till he drove a round shot through the roof of Sam Francis." 

The Third Provincial Congress met here from May 18 to June 30, 
1776, and the following bill is in State Records as paid for an entertain- 
ment : 

"The Honorable Provincial Congress, Dr., to Samuel Fraunces* — New 
York. 

* This is the first record, the writer finds of his name being spelled Fraunces, prior 
to this it had appeared as Francis. 

13 



1 4th June, 1776. 

To an Kntertainment £45 . 0.0 

To 6 Dozn & 6 Bottles of Madeira. . . 23 . 8 .0 

To 2 " &6 " Port 9.0.0 

To Porter 23/ — • Cyder 37/ Spruce 4/6 4 • 9 -6 

To Sangary 66/ — To do. 18/— Punch 12/ 4.16.0 

To Madeira 12/ — Bitters 3/ — 0.15.0 

To Lights 8/ — Wine Glasses broken 16/ 1.4.6 

To 4 Wine Decanters 8/ — 2 Water Decanters 14/0 1.2.0 

To a Chainie Pudding Dish 12/ — Tumblers 14/ — ■. 1.6.0 

£91 . 1 .0 
(This accctint was audited and paid, June 25, 1776.)" 

It seems very probable that this bill is for the "elegant entertainment" 
writers refer to as June 18, 1776, which was given to General Washington 
and his suite, the general and staff officers, and the commanding officers 
of the different regiments in and near the city by the Provincial Con- 
gress. The first toast on this occasion was Congress, the second The 
American Army, the third The American Navy, etc., although Inde- 
pendence had not yet been declared. 

In July, 1776, this being a large mansion, all the window sash leads 
(weights) were taken from the Tavern, lead being one of the most 
difficult of warlike stores to procure, and about one hundred tons were 
gathered in the city, which proved invaluable at Forts Montgomery 
and Clinton later. 

No doubt, during the British occupation, it was the scene of many 
convivial gatherings and entertainments given by the British Troops 
and that some of their officers had quarters there. One writer alludes 
to it as the "Tavern near the Ferry, at which, for seven years, the Officers 
of the British Army, including poor John Andre, had Gloried and drunk 
deep." 

On November 25, 1783, the first celebration of Evacuation Day took 
place, the occasion being a public dinner given by Governor Clinton to 
General Washington, the Commander-in-Chief and the General Officers. 
Fraunces was then again in possession of the Tavern and without doubt 
the old sign of the "Queens Head" bearing the portrait of Queen Char- 
lotte, was taken down and consigned to the rubbish heap in some neigh- 



boring alley, and the place has since been known as Fraunces Tavern. 
Writers say Washington made his headquarters there and that the build- 
ing was illuminated in the evening. On this occasion the memorable thir- 
teen toasts were drunk, the first being to "The United States of America" 
and the last" May the Remembrance of THIS DAY be a Lesson to 
Princes;" and "The New York Gazette" of November 26, 1783, gives a 
full account of the parade and ceremonies of the day before and the 
public dinner given to the Commander-in-Chief at Fraunces Tavern 
in the evening. The bill as follows: 

"November 25, 1783 

His Excellency, Governor Clinton to Sam'l. Fraunces, Dr. 

To an Entertainment £30 . . 4 . . o 

To 75 Bottles of Madeira at 8/ 

To 18 " of Claret at 10/. .. 

To 16 " of Port at 6/ 

To 24 " of Spruce at 1/ 

To 24 " of Porter at 3/ 

To Lights 60/ Tea and Coffee 64/ 

To Brokeg 

To Punch 

£97. .12. . 

The above bill is for an Entertainment of taking Possession 
of the City when the British evacuated the Southern District. 
Reed, the Contents in full 2d Feby., 1784. 

Sami^. Fraunces" 

There is another bill for a dinner at Cape's Tavern on Broadway, 
December 2, 1783, which was given by Governor Clinton in honor of the 
French Ambassador, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, who had just arrived 
from Philadelphia. General Washington, the principal officers of the 
Army and State, and many guests were present. 

This states the exact number of diners as 120 and figuring the existing 
bill for good spirits, it looks as if something considerably over four quarts 
apiece was consumed. The bill winds up with liberal charges for broken 
glasses, decanters and crockery, and a closing item of "coffee for 
gentlemen." 

15 



30. 




9- 




4- 


.16.. 


I. 


• 4-- 


3. 


. 12. . 


6. 


. 4.. 


2. 


. 2. . 


10. 


.10. . 



It has been suggested that these eight must have been the survivors 
of the feast, the rest being under the table. 

In the evening there was a grand display of fireworks at the Bowling 
Green and the whole city was illuminated. 

The writer has felt some remorse at digging these old bills out of State 
archives, for fear they might fall into the hands of some one who might 
hold our patriotic ancestors up as terrible examples and one can imagine 
his picturing a long line of wheelbarrows in lieu of taxi cabs, drawn up 
in front of the Tavern the morning after. 

Unfortunately, drinking was quite prevalent in these olden times and 
of the "Good Old Madeira" 'tis said 

"Not drunk is he who from the floor 
Can rise again and still drink more 
But drunk is he who prostrate lies 
Without the power to drink or rise." 

On December 4, 1783, the memorable vScene occurred in Fraunces Tavern 
of Washington's Farewell to his Officers. Variouswriters estimate that some 
forty-four of our greatest military leaders were present, including Generals 
Greene, Knox, Wayne, Steuben, McDougall, vSchuyler, Lincoln, Gates, 
Putnam, Lee, Stark, Kosciuszko, Moultrie, Hamilton and Colonel Hum- 
phreys, Governor Clinton, Major Fish, Charles Carroll, Colonel Tallmadge 
and others, and for a very interesting account of this scene we are indebted 
to Colonel Tallmadge, whose original diary the vSons of the Revolution 
now own. The occasion, however, is also described as follows by the 
celebrated English writer Thackeray: 

"The last soldier had quitted the soil of the Republic, and the Com- 
mander-in-Chief proposed to leave New York for Annapolis, where Con- 
gress was sitting, and there resign his commission. About noon on the 
4th day of December, a barge was in waiting at Whitehall Ferry to convey 
him across the Hudson. The chiefs of the Army assembled at a tavern 
near the ferry, and there the General joined them. 

"Seldom as he showed his emotion outwardly, on this day he could not 
disguise it. He filled a glass of wine and said, 'I bid you farewell with 
a heart full of love and gratitude and wish your latter days may be as 
prosperous and happy as those past have been glorious and honorable.' 

16 



Then he drank to them. 'I cannot come to each of you to take my leave,' 
he said, 'but shall be obliged if each of you will come and shake me by the 
hand.' 




WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL TO HIS OFFICERS 
Long Room — Fraunces Tavern — December 4, 1783 

"General Knox, who was nearest, came forward, and the Chief, with 
tears in his eyes embraced him. The others came one by one to him, 
and took their leave without a word. A line of infantry was formed from 
the Tavern to the Ferry, and the General, with his officers following him, 
walked silently to the water. He stood up in the barge, taking off his 
hat and waving a farewell. And his comrades remained bareheaded on 
the shore until their leader's boat was out of view." 

Years afterward, one of the officers present, wrote as follows: "Happy 
as was the occasion, prayed for as it had been by him and all the patriots, 
that we might at last feel that there was no enemy left in America, the 
triumph brought with it its sorrows, and I could hardly speak when 1 
turned from taking my last look at him. It was extremely affecting, 

17 



and I do not think there were ever so many broken hearts in New York 
as there were that night." 

Washington did not again return to New York until he came to be 
inaugurated as First President of the United States on. April 6, 1789. 

In 1785 Fraunces, now having owned the Tavern for some twenty- 
three years, sold it for nineteen hundred and fifty pounds to George 
Powers, a butcher of Brooklyn, and retired to country life in New Jersey. 
The deed, dated April 23, states, "Samuel Fraunces, late of the City of 
New York, Innkeeper, but at present of the County of Monmouth, New 
Jersey, farmer, and Elizabeth, his wife, sell," etc.; after which time it 
passed through several hands. * It was then sold to Thomas Gardiner, June 
22, 1801, for $7,500, whose granddaughter married the Count de Dion, 
and it was from her children, living in France, it was purchased by the Sons 
of the Revolution in 1904. 

The original deeds of the de Lanceys, Samuel Fraunces and his wife 
Elizabeth, and other later owners, are now on exhibition in one of the 
cases in the museum ; also photographs of early New York records, news- 
papers, etc., which are interesting as confirming the early history of the 
Tavern. 

The Long Room was frequently used for balls, lectures, etc., and as a 
meeting place for the St. Andrew's Society, the New York Society of the 
Cincinnati, the Governors of the New York Hospital, the Society of 
Arts and Agriculture, General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen; in 
fact, the Tavern appears to have taken the place at that period of the 
modern Delmonico's, and to have been one of the prominent places of 
entertainment in the city. In May, 1789, John Francis, who is supposed 
to have been the son of Saml. Fraunces, removed, from the "True Amer- 
ican" at No. 3 Great Dock, now Pearl St., which he had opened in August, 
1785, to the Tavern. 

On February 2, 1790, the Supreme Court of the United States was 

opened in the City of New York, and in the evening "the Grand Jury of 

the United States for the District" gave a very elegant entertainment in 

honor of the Court at the Tavern, which was attended by national and 

city dignitaries, member of Congress, gentleman of the bar and leading 

* Bought by Dr. Nicholas Romayne April 30, 1795, for £2,200 (then equivalent 
to $5,500). Bought by John S. Moore, June 24, 1800. 

18 



citizens. The guests were John Jay of New York, Chief Justice, with 
Associate Justices William Gushing of Massachusetts, James Wilson of 
Pennsylvania, Robert Harrison of Maryland, and John Blair of Virginia, 
and John Rutledge of South Carolina, also Edmond Randolph of Vir- 
ginia, Attorney General of the United States. 

On July 28, 1802, when Michael Little kept the Tavern, the two friends 
of De Witt Clinton and Col. John Swartwout met there to make arrange- 
ments for the duel which took place in Hoboken, N. J., on Saturday^ 
July 31st. 

The Gentlemen of the Bar of the City of New York held a meeting 
there on February 1 1 , 1 802 . 

On July 4, 1804, when kept by David Rose, the New York State Society 
of the Cincinnati, after their meeting at Federal Hall, held their annual 
banquet there, and at about this time it became known for a brief period 
as the Washington Hotel. 

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Evacuation of the 
City of New York on November 25, 1813, when the Tavern was kept by 
Rudolphus Kent, the Veteran Corps of Artillery celebrated the occasion 
by having a dinner there, and also on the following year. 

Writer has lately learned that the New York Yacht Club was founded 
there in 1844, but the particular event that took place there that is of 
special interest to our Society was the assemblage called together by the 
late John Austin Stevens to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of 
Washington's farewell. This occasion was on December 4, 1883, and 
there are still several members of the Society who were present on that 
night. A very enjoyable and memorable evening was passed which 
resulted in the formal organization in the "Long Room" of the Society of 
the Sons of the Revolution, which had its inception at a meeting held at 
the New York Historical Society on February 22, 1876. A number of 
interesting souvenirs of this occasion can now be seen in the museum. 

In 1887, a Committee composed of James Mortimer Montgomery, 
John Clarkson Jay and George C. Genet, were appointed to try and ar- 
range for the acquisition of the Tavern, but it was found impossible to 
do so at that time. 

In 1904 Fraunces Tavern was purchased by the Sons of the Revolu- 
tion and the transfer of the property is duly recorded in the Registrar's 

19 



office under the date of July sotli, and in the years 1906 and 1907 the 
restoration of the building was undertaken. To our late President, 
Frederick Samuel Tallmadge, the Society is everlastingly indebted for 
the funds that enabled them to undertake and complete this splendid 
work. (Commemorated by bronze tablet on the building.) 

On December 4, 1907, the 124th anniversary of Washington's Farewell 
was commemorated by the formal occupation and dedication of the 
building by the Sons of the Revolution. This took place with imposing 
ceremonies and was followed by a parade to the Chamber of Commerce, 
where addresses were made and a collation was served. 

RESTORATION. 

This building, the scene of Washington's farewell to his Officers, is one of 
our National shrines. No worthier object could have been proposed to a 
patriotic Society like the Sons of the Revolution, than to preserve and 
restore it to the original state in which the "great farewell" took place. 
No known view of the Tavern has been found to exist earlier than that 
which appeared in Valentine's Manual of the Common Council of New 
York for the year 1854, where, in addition to the picture I want to call 
your attention to the following extract from the article written by William 
J. Davis: 

"The City of New York has made many futile attempts to erect to the 
memory of Washington a suitable monument. It is already done. 
The preservation of Fraunces Tavern is the greatest monument that can 
be conceived or erected. Let the demagogue who would barter the 
liberties of his country for his personal aggrandizement visit it, and stand 
within that room where the greatest of men resigned his power, and be- 
came a simple farmer again, and will not that bright example bring him 
back to his duty again? It may become a second Mecca, to bring the 
faithful to behold the room in which occurred the scene of Ms greatness 
and magnanimity." 

This seems to prophecy the work that our Society has undertaken 
and carried to completion. 

Fraunces' own description of the Tavern, which appeared in the "New 
York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury", is as follows: 



"Queen's Head Tavern. 

March 13, 1775 — To be sold at the Merchants' Coffee House on Tues- 
day the 3rd of April, at noon, by public auction or at private sale any time 
before. The Queen's Head Tavern, near the Exchange is three stories 
high with tile and lead roof, has 14 fire places, a most excellent large kitchen, 
fine dry cellars, with good and convenient offices sufficient for a large 
family, the business above mentioned, a Merchant or any other large 
trade, is a corner house very open and airy and in the most complete re- 
pair, near the new ferry. Further particulars and a good title will be 
given by Samuel Frauncis, who so far from declining his present busi- 
ness, is determined to use ever the utmost endeavors to carry on the 
same, to the pleasure and satisfaction of his friends and the public in 
general." 

In a "view of the City of New York from Brooklyn Heights, foot of 
Pierrepont Street, in 1798, by Monsieur C. B. Julian de St. Menin," the 
top of Faunces Tavern shows a gambrel or curb roof, gambreled (or, tech- 
nically, "hipped") also at the ends. 

The great problem encountered in the restoration was what did the 
building look like and of what did it consist when the historic Farewell 
took place within its walls? Mr. William H. Mersereau was the architect 
selected and to him is due a great deal of credit for the careful study he 
made of the subject. At the time of the purchase of the building by 
The Sons of the Revolution there was nothing whatever of Colonial 
architecture left in its appearance. The building had a modern first 
story and a fiat roof, and even the very bricks were disguised. From a 
fine mansion of the time of Queen Anne it had degenerated into a common- 
place building like others in the vicinity, having been successively used as 
a warehouse, hotel with forty-six bedrooms and a saloon. In the year 
1832 there had been a serious fire in the interior of the building, after 
which a new roof was added. In 1837 another fire occurred. In the year 
1852 a very disastrous fire occurred which practically destroyed the 
easterly end on Pearl Street, and at this time two additional stories were 
put on the building and at later dates it had undergone still further changes, 
including the addition of a flat roof. The great question to be determined 
was the slope of the roof of the original mansion, which was finally dis- 

21 



covered jwhen the additional stories were taken off and the old roof line 
was found indicated in the wall of the adjoining building, and was also 
proven to be correct by the different size of bricks used in older days as 
compared with those of more modern times. 

The Broad Street side had been made of yellow Dutch brick from 
Amsterdam and the Pearl Street side of red English brick. To properly 
replace and restore these two sides was a very serious problem for no 
similar yellow brick could be found in this country, and it was only by 
good luck that it was ascertained that similar lyth century bricks were 
being made near Rotterdam, and some fourteen thousand of them were 
imported in a great hurry from Holland, packed in cases, so as not to de- 
lay the work. 

As regards the red bricks, they were obtained from old houses being 
torn down in Baltimore, and were fortunately accessible just at that 
time. 

The original timbers were retained above and below the Long Room 
and every brick and piece of lumber was left, in place. In the replace- 
ment, the ground floor and roof were made of steel and concrete, and the 
intermediate floors filled with ashes, so as to make the structure as nearly 
fireproof as possible. The fireplaces were restored so that the present ap- 
pearance is practically the same as it was in the Revolutionary period. 
It was necessary to replace practically all the interior woodwork of the 
building owing to the frequent fires and general destruction, so that the 
staircase, wainscoating, etc., was modelled after that of the Phillipse 
Manor House, now the Yonkers City Hall. The roof design was also 
adapted from this building, which had been built practicaly at about the 
same period by the same people, so that now the Tavern can be revisited 
by the shades of the soldiers concerned in the "great scene" that took 
place here on December 4, 1783. 

Fraunces Tavern has never lost its name and has been open contin- 
uously as a house of public entertainment since 1762, having providentially 
escaped the great conflagrations of 1776, 1835 and 1845, which destroyed 
so much of New York. 

It has been preserved as an historical memorial of Washington and the 
days of the Revolution and even as a teacher it is worth a thousand times 
what it cost in dollars and cents. 

22 



WASHINGTON'S FARBWKLL. 

Fraunces Tavern, December 4, 1783. 

Halt — Uncover — ^Here once stood 

When all his battle days were done 
The conqueror of Briton's hosts, 

Our Nation's father — ^Washington. 

He stood like some bold towering peak 

With crest of the eternal snows; 
His features like the God-carved crags 

On which the sunset glory glows. 

A clang of swords — a clink of spurs. 

Was mingled with the martial tread, 
As comrades mustered to his call 

And in his presence bared the head. 

These men who had defied a king 

And faced the iron blast of death 
Now stood like children 'fore their sire, 

Attentive and with bated breath. 

Resounded salvos of the guns 

And cheers of triumph in the street, 
But like the minute 'fore the charge 

One might have heard their brave hearts beat. 

As soared their hearts at victory. 

So sank they now in blank despair, 
For some this look will be the last 

Upon their Chief — their father there. 

They gazed in his gray searching eyes. 

They caught the tremor of his lip, 
And, as they grasped his great brown hand. 

They felt his soul was in the grip. 

This spot is sacred ; not by blood, 

But what is purer and more dear; 
'Twas here he kissed each sun-scorched cheek, 

'Twas here was shed the parting tear. 

F. K. 

23 



SONS OF THE REVOLUTION 

OBJECT OF THE SOCIETY 



Preamble to the Constitution 

Whereas, It has become evident from the decline of proper celebra- 
tion of such National holidays as the Fourth of July, Washington's Birth- 
day, and the like, that popular interest in the events and men of the War 
of the Revolution is less than in the earlier days of the Republic; 

And Whereas, This lack of interest is to be attributed not so much to 
lapse of time as to the neglect on the part of descendants of Revolutionary 
heroes to perform their duty of keeping before the public mind the memory 
of the services of their ancestors, and of the times in which they lived, 
and of the principles for which they contended; 

Therefore, The Society of the "Sons of the Revolution" has been 
instituted to perpetuate the memory of the men who, in military, naval 
or civil service, by their acts or counsel, achieved American Independence; 
to promote and assist in the proper celebration of the anniversaries of 
Washington's Birthday, the Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, the 
Fourth of July, the Capitulations of Saratoga and Yorktown, the Evacua- 
tion of New York by the British Army, and other prominent events 
relating to or connected with the War of the Revolution; to collect and 
secure for preservation the manuscript rolls, records and other documents 
and memorials relating to that War; to inspire among the members and 
their descendants the patriotic spirit of their forefathers; to inculcate in 
the community in general sentiments of Nationality and respect for the 
principles for which the patriots of the Revolution contended; to assist in 
the commemorative celebration of other great historical events of National 
importance, and to promote social intercourse and the feeling of fellow- 
ship among its members. 



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